Messed up stuff happens. After an unsavory wake-up call, Octavia decides to put off her troubles and have one last turn up with her friends. In poet Aziza Barnes’s ingenious portrait of a day in the life of four young black women discovering life’s uncomfortable truths in New York City, BLKS explores the joy and anguish of growing up and out. Riotously funny and distinctly rendered, Barnes’s playwriting debut marks the arrival of a truly original contemporary American voice.

Select photos by Michael Brosilow

Lighting Design

Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, December 2017

Written by Aziza Barnes
Directed by Nataki Garrett

Set Design by Sibyl Wickersheimer
Costume Design by Trevor Bowen
Sound Design & Original Music by T. Carlis Roberts
Projection Design by Rasean Davonte Johnson